Turnersville is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Coryell County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. As of 2004, the estimated population was 350. It is located within the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metropolitan area.

History

The community was originally named Buchanan Springs. The region was planned to be traversed by the Bosque and

Chisholm Trail The Chisholm Trail ( ) was a stock trail and wagon route used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in southern Texas, across the Red River into Indian Territory, and northward to rail stops in Kansas. The trail cons ...

s. Two miles east of the townsite still stood the Lone Tree, one of the county's oldest landmarks, in 2004. It led visitors, settlers, and cowboys in the 1860s to a running spring on an expansive prairie of lush rangeland that was home to numerous

buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

turkeys The turkey is a large bird in the genus ''Meleagris'', native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey (''Meleagris ocell ...

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s, and longhorn

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

. Cal Turner, who settled there to shoe horses and repair wagons, gave his name to the village that gradually grew around the spring where all travelers camped. His

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop was the town's first establishment as a result. In 1875, there was a Turnersville post office established there. Joseph M. Black, the first postmaster, later donated five acres of property for a cemetery. There were three churches, a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

, a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

, and approximately eight other businesses in Turnersville in 1885, which had a population of 300. A Masonic lodge was founded in that year. The town mainly exported cotton and grain. From 1895 through roughly 1916, Turnersville had prosperity, due in great part to the local cotton industry. One hundred sixty-two people lived there in 1916, along with Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Disciples of Christ churches and about ten businesses, including the ''Advance'' newspaper. Through the second half of the twentieth century, Turnersville's population progressively decreased. Despite the 1987 closure of the post office, a new fire station was constructed in 1988. The town had four enterprises and 155 persons by 1989. A functioning cemetery society still existed in Turnersville at the time, and it organized an annual homecoming on the fourth Sunday in May. A grain elevator, a community center, and a seed and fertilizer company were also present in the town at that time. In 2004, about 350 people were living in the area.

Geography

Turnersville is located on Farm to Market Road 182, northeast of Gatesville, Texas, Gatesville and west of Waco, Texas, Waco in northeastern Coryell County.

Education

A Presbyterian church served as the community's school in 1868. It continued to operate in 1885 and closed in 1968. Today, the community is served by the Jonesboro Independent School District.

Geology

Turnersville sits on the Washita geological group. Major formations within the area include Buda limestone, Del Rio clay, and Georgetown limestone, including beds equivalent to Kiamichi clay at the base.

Notable people

* Ewing Y. Freeland, football and baseball player, and later coach, was born here. * Myrtis Coltharp, nurse, foreign service agent, and federal official.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Coryell County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas